Monk n00b needs some tips

[Quikster]

I also have a tempest kama using monk that is a blast to play, but quite low on the DPS scale. 12/6/2 monk/ranger/rogue. He is a solo monster, but certainly not a DPS heavy hitter. It really all comes down to how you intend to play.

Viiktor is my only "real" monk as he uses unbalancing strike, touch of death and stunning fist etc. It's looking like he will end up at about 32-34 wisdom. At level 20 his stunning fist will be 10(base) + 20(level) + 11/12(wis modifier) = 41/42 DC. It's a fort save (I think) so that should give you an idea of where the stunning fist will stop being effective.


As a WF monk, you can take WF power attack and hate generation and be able to take and hold aggro. Being dex based would be nice to keep your to-hit higher when you're rocking that -8 from WF PA. The Black Mantis guild leader has a dex-based WF monk that he enjoys quite a bit. . Also, the leader from Twisted Metal just got his WF monk to 20. Talking to them might help you with some insight.

I am far from an expert in anything (especially monks) so take my advice with a huge grain of salt. And then add salt to it.

Yeah im not totally opposed to going finesse with wf'd pa so long as I can see it broken down to still do decent dps. After playing with the stats a little that may be my only choice.

I though dc on stunning fist was 10+1/2monk level+wis mod?

So if thats the case, will I be better off stunning things if I go str route and stunning blow with wf'd tactics or more wisdom and stunning fist?

[Quikster]

The build I posted COULD take all 4 grandmaster stances, but you'll probably only want tier I water, GM earth and wind (need the I water for unbalancing strike). Depending on your +3 tome availability you could bump the stats higher than they are (I didn't factor them in though since it was for my personal use and I'll only have one +3).

From what I've heard in other posts regarding stunning fist/blow and dc with a similar build, this guy should be able fill the support dps, melee cc roles very well (even at endgame/epic against trash especially).

Prolly only going to max wind/earth. It seems to be the consensus that those two are most effective at higher levels. And while I dont plan to play this forever at 20, due to the tr xp curve I spend more time there then at lower levels.

[Sir_Chonas]

Prolly only going to max wind/earth. It seems to be the consensus that those two are most effective at higher levels. And while I dont plan to play this forever at 20, due to the tr xp curve I spend more time there then at lower levels.

Yeah those would be the two you want to max, just letting you know there were several enhancement chains that could be taken differently to suit your needs.

Since stunning fist and stunning blow aren't being properly effected, going with a tried and true method such as tactics increases their DC unquestionably (someone made a post about it I'll link after I find it).

Edit: Photographic Proof -> http://forums.ddo.com/showthread.php?t=223220
Verbal Confirmation and discussion of the relevant topic ->http://forums.ddo.com/showthread.php?t=228924

My question about the issue a month or 2 ago http://forums.ddo.com/showthread.php?t=218417

[Quikster]

Yeah those would be the two you want to max, just letting you know there were several enhancement chains that could be taken differently to suit your needs.

Since stunning fist and stunning blow aren't being properly effected, going with a tried and true method such as tactics increases their DC unquestionably (someone made a post about it I'll link after I find it).

Edit: Photographic Proof -> http://forums.ddo.com/showthread.php?t=223220
Verbal Confirmation and discussion of the relevant topic ->http://forums.ddo.com/showthread.php?t=228924

My question about the issue a month or 2 ago http://forums.ddo.com/showthread.php?t=218417

Cool thx for the link.

[Quikster]

So maybe decent starting str and level ups in dex or dex/wis and finesse? Hmm have to play with the numbers a little. But stunning fist dc is 10 + 1/2 monk level +wis mod correct?

[rest]

Yeah im not totally opposed to going finesse with wf'd pa so long as I can see it broken down to still do decent dps. After playing with the stats a little that may be my only choice.

I though dc on stunning fist was 10+1/2monk level+wis mod?

So if thats the case, will I be better off stunning things if I go str route and stunning blow with wf'd tactics or more wisdom and stunning fist?

Ah hell. 1/2 monk level is right.

Told yas I was a n00b.

And honestly, once you get some weighted 5% handwraps, stunning fist becomes less important. At least to me so far.

[Sir_Chonas]

So maybe decent starting str and level ups in dex or dex/wis and finesse? Hmm have to play with the numbers a little. But stunning fist dc is 10 + 1/2 monk level +wis mod correct?

http://compendium.ddo.com/wiki/Feat:Stunning_Fist

According to that, yes. Plus racial tactic bonuses.

And if you take the tactics, they'll also affect stunning blow (which if you built a STR monk you could take instead of finesse and just cycle between sb and sf).

[Taimasan]

Hey quik, good luck on your build if you got any questions PM me ingame.

[Quikster]

Hey quik, good luck on your build if you got any questions PM me ingame.

thx. I hate /tell in game for this kinda stuff. When I log in I want to game usually. Ill talk while questing some but that doesn't allow me to put pen to paper. Due to some time spent in oblivion when I was younger, I have to put it to paper or it just doesn't stick

[NXPlasmid]

I haven't read this entire thread, and I am not convinced that the rockan robin build is anything special, but it is a good build. I think the best builds are generally halfling with maxed out cunning and guile, my current preference is to not worry too much about uber AC or uber Wis. The difficulty of landing SF or QP and saves at end game just don't overide the better to-hit and reflex saves from higher dex YMMV. 5% weighted handwraps are essential, and there are 2 sets of handwraps you want, Devotion from Deleras and Devout from shaddow crypt. Personally I like 14 16 14 8 16 8 as starting stats, all lvls into Strength (if you have the shintao ring +1 exp st) you end up with 26 28 22 8 27 8 with +2 tomes. very playable, could drop wis down one and pump con (I think that works, maybe not you could even drop st as well and go con). I also wouldn't bother with CE, never used it on 2 monks to 20... 24 or 26 strength isn't gonna make all that much difference...

Worforged is also popular, however I haven't played a WF monk so I'll leave that to others to comment on.. oh and I am inclined to a light monk versus dark, however the dark path just got a lot better...

[sinedist]

Quik,

In my opinion, if you roll a Rockan Robin WIS monk, you'll be able to breeze through most anything in the game. It's one of the fastest builds to level because it can solo most content throughout its level progression. The AC and DCs make most everything up to end-game a joke. It's a brilliantly effective build, especially for the role of grinding out loot for other characters.

If you intend to primarily run end-game content on hard/elite/epic, however, I might go with a WF or Halfling STR build. The Rockan build's huge benefits (AC, DCs, Monk abilities) becomes a lot less effective/seductive come epic.
Max STR (on halfling just plug to 16), then plug stats into CON, then enough DEX to hit 18, and forget WIS. Go light based, take Stunning BLOW, and get yourself a nice set of greater bane handwraps. You will do sick damage, have enough HP and healing amps to be very survivable, a huge DC on your stunning blow, and can still cast the two monk buffs that really matter.

[Sir_Chonas]

Quik,

In my opinion, if you roll a Rockan Robin WIS monk, you'll be able to breeze through most anything in the game. It's one of the fastest builds to level because it can solo most content throughout its level progression. The AC and DCs make most everything up to end-game a joke. It's a brilliantly effective build, especially for the role of grinding out loot for other characters.

If you intend to primarily run end-game content on hard/elite/epic, however, I might go with a WF or Halfling STR build. The Rockan build's huge benefits (AC, DCs, Monk abilities) becomes a lot less effective/seductive come epic.
Max STR (on halfling just plug to 16), then plug stats into CON, then enough DEX to hit 18, and forget WIS. Go light based, take Stunning BLOW, and get yourself a nice set of greater bane handwraps. You will do sick damage, have enough HP and healing amps to be very survivable, a huge DC on your stunning blow, and can still cast the two monk buffs that really matter.

That's the reason I'm planning on the str monk because of the to-hit needed in epic (which I have to run at least 20 of per reincarnation). Not to mention that I'll probably camp out farming epic gear this time around now that my fighter stuff's going in the reincarnation bank.

[NXPlasmid]

Quik,

Max STR (on halfling just plug to 16), then plug stats into CON, then enough DEX to hit 18, and forget WIS. Go light based, take Stunning BLOW, and get yourself a nice set of greater bane handwraps. You will do sick damage, have enough HP and healing amps to be very survivable, a huge DC on your stunning blow, and can still cast the two monk buffs that really matter.

on a halfling? isn't it 6 build points to go from 14 to 16? doesnt that seem kinda wasteful for an extra +1 to hit and damage? I totally disagree that there is any difference between a halfling with more of a nod to dex than wis and a max wiz build in terms of soloing, suvivability or dps, probably better DPS on a dex halfling monk than either str based or wis based, since with weapons finesse you can leave power attack on almost all the time. Why even bother with a monk if you are going to build one like that, inferior dps, inferior saves, inferior hitpoints compared to any of the other melee classes... honestly I don't get it.

[Original]

Quik dont take stunning fist. Your going str-based, which every monk should go but anyways.
Take stunning blow.. it will work alot better.

[Sir_Chonas]

Quik dont take stunning fist. Your going str-based, which every monk should go but anyways.
Take stunning blow.. it will work alot better.

If he's str based, he's going to have 2 extra feat slots (which for me will be stunning fist and weapon focus bludgeoning probably (either that or an extra toughness).

[NXPlasmid]

That's the reason I'm planning on the str monk because of the to-hit needed in epic (which I have to run at least 20 of per reincarnation). Not to mention that I'll probably camp out farming epic gear this time around now that my fighter stuff's going in the reincarnation bank.

see my above post if you are really concerned about "to hit" on a halfling monk. you can go 12 17 14 8 16 8 (with 2 build points to play with still so you could go 10 int if you wanted skill points), all level ups into Dx and +2 tomes into the four primaries gets you 20 32 20 8 25 8, you very best strenth build will get your strength to 27, effectively 26, or +3 less to hit. Maybe I'm just not seeing something here, that is possible, but I can't fathom the whole Strength based monk, especially not on a halfling. Warforged maybe, or human but halfling?

[NXPlasmid]

Quik dont take stunning fist. Your going str-based, which every monk should go but anyways.
Take stunning blow.. it will work alot better.

Just out of curiosity, how many monks do you currently run and what race and stats did you pick, I am really trying to understand the whole Str based monk thing, you seem to be a major proponent.

[stainer]

Just out of curiosity, how many monks do you currently run and what race and stats did you pick, I am really trying to understand the whole Str based monk thing, you seem to be a major proponent.

/signed

[Toucheh]

For me the whole halfling dex-based monk feels like a gimped dps rogue......But that's just me.

I'm level 5 on my WF monk and playing it allows me to feel like an actual monk with good unarmed dps, and gives me satisfaction that I didn't waste my coins on the class. I kinda don't get the whole half-ling dex monk, if u wanna sneak around with unarmed dps and heals just roll a rogue/cleric.

[stainer]

For me the whole halfling monk feels like a gimped dps rogue......But that's just me.

I'm level 5 on my WF monk and playing it allows me to feel like an actual monk with good unarmed dps, and gives me satisfaction that I didn't waste my coins on the class. I kinda don't get the whole half-ling monk, if u wanna sneak around with unarmed dps and heals just roll a rogue/cleric.

I was going to explain how halfling guile and cunning work, and how they are unrelated to "sneaking". Instead I present to you -

Hi Welcome

I did give you a +1 rep for being so brave. It took you from a red box to a green box.